Spoon You, Fork Me

bacon

We were served seriously big serves
Our stomachs started hurting just seeing our plates being set down on the table
We entertained a lot of elderly diners who marveled at our ability to eat a LOT of food.

Diners today were at The Glenelg Club which is at Glenelg Oval (Gliderol Stadium) on Brighton Rd. Hubby and I just wanted a quick lunch before doing the million other things we had to do that day and it seemed a quick easy place to visit.

Strange to think we’ve never been here before when we live so close. The first thing we noticed was the view of the oval as you walk into the Bistro Doors. It was a really lovely view!

We were there right at the start of the lunch period and only one other table was seated. Before long, many many tables were full and they all had one thing in common; They were full of seniors! The Glenelg Club has 20% off all lunch meals Monday to Friday for seniors. Now that’s a pretty good offer right!

Looking through the menu there were lots of options on there at pretty reasonable prices. They also advertise their weekly specials and I was already thinking about when we could come back before we’d even ordered anything!

After looking through the menu for a long, long time, hubby finally decided he was going to have the Grazers Plate. It was in the starters section and we assumed it was some kind of sharing platter. The menu description didn’t say how many people the plate would reasonably feed so he just figured he’d order it for his main. This was what appeared on the menu
“Southern chicken tenders, spiced lamb skewers, seeded mustard bread, waffle fries, chefs selected dip, olives and Australian feta”

I decided to go for the burger, I know, not very original but it was what I felt like today. I actually would have preferred the steak sandwich but I didn’t like the bread they had that on.

When I ordered the food, the server didn’t say anything. I mentioned that hubby was going to have the grazing plate as his main. She didn’t bat an eyelid. I had no clue at how big this plate was going to be.

We watched other food coming out and it all looked really good so we were looking forward to our own meals.

Finally a server starts walking over to our table with just one dish. It turns out, she had the grazers plate and it was so large, she couldn’t hold two plates. She needed two hands for it and said she’d be right back with my burger.

Hubby, shy thing that he is, was just mortified at the size. Other diners had turned to look. One lady even said “oh, excuse me, what did you order there, was that something special?” I said “No it’s on the menu, it’s the Grazers plate”
You could see the relief come over her, “oh” she replied, “thank goodness. I thought that was the dips plate and we’ve just ordered that.”

I really don’t know where to start with this. Everything was really really good. Hubby begged me to share it so I had to have a try. From the chicken, to the dip and salsa, everything was very tasty. I’m sure I ate most of that dip!
This dish was $32 which I think is very reasonable for the amount of food that you get!
Hubby noticed that one of the servers would glance over and snicker every time she came by. It might have been his imagination…
Despite his embarrassment, he really wasn’t sorry he’d ordered it, perhaps just sorry that there were witnesses!!

My burger looked huge. I was going to say equally huge but that wouldn’t be correct! I didn’t even know how I was going to eat it at first. I ended up taking the bacon out because (don’t be shocked) I’m not a bacon fan and that made it easier to eat.
It was really tasty and the ingredients and fillings seemed really fresh.
They really aren’t shy on portion size here!

It’s lucky that we came here during lunch and not later in the day. At least our bodies have time to metabolise the food somewhat before we go to bed.

Honestly I don’t know if it’s the football connection, the view of the oval, the large serves or hubby’s mortification but I loved coming here today and hope it won’t be too long before we visit again. I wonder if they’ll make that Grazing Plate dish to go?

Have you been to The Glenelg Club?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!

As meat platters appear on other people’s tables, dining envy grows,
Special moussaka was truly special and
One of us is already setting the date for our next visit and he definitely will be ordering a meat platter.

Diners today we were at Kaffana in that ever happening, “Hipster” paradise, Peel Street.

Kaffana is a Serbian Meat restaurant and hubby had been seeing their ads on Facebook for sometime and has been getting quite enticed by them! I mean how can a meat lover go past those pictures of meat trays!

We were here at 6pm on a Friday night. It was heavily booked. Lots of people were waiting to enter the dining room.
Dim lighting, easy listening music in the background, exposed red brick walls and lots of wood all contributed to making us feel comfortable and welcome.

A server finally called our name and brought us to our table. I wasn’t sure who she was at first as she was a tiny thing in old sneakers and a black beanie with a few strands of platinum blonde hair coming through. But maybe that’s just the way things are in this sort of place.

The menu was pretty cute although it was a bit hard to see because of the dim lighting. They have old “little golden books” there and have pasted their menu to the pages of the story. I liked the idea, especially as I was always walking around with at least one “little golden book” in my hand when I was a kid.

Hubby and I had a look through the menu and he was so disappointed when I said I just couldn’t see myself having half a meat tray. I don’t mind meat, sometimes I even like it but in small quantities. I did feel a little bad for him though when other tables near us started having meat trays brought out to them…

We decided to start with the Moussaka to share as an entree. It was on their specials board and said it was served with sour cream. I didn’t know how that was going to work but was curious to try it. I normally really love moussaka and am still looking for the perfect one.

It was very hard to take a decent photo because of the dim lighting but I hope you get an idea.

The moussaka was certainly special and not traditional. I couldn’t see or taste any bechemel but then that probably wouldn’t have matched with the sour cream on top. I couldn’t find eggplant in there either but maybe it was. After all, what’s a moussaka without eggplant right?
It was absolutely delicious though. So much flavor! Makes me want to try to make it myself.
Hubby and I were fighting to make sure we got half each.

As per their menu, all meals come with “mammas” bread which was quite damper like. Very toasty warm and a little smokey tasting. I loved it!
The meals also come with potato salad and coleslaw? It was like a coleslaw sans mayonnaise.

The potato salad looked nice and it had spring onions in it.
Hubby didn’t want to eat it before our mains came and when I say he didn’t want to eat it, I mean he didn’t want US to eat it. That includes me. I was starving and it was so hard not to.

For main I chose Karakjordjeva. The menu described it as “Kaffana’s version of a Karadjordjeva schnitzel (no bread crumbs) , char grilled tenderised veal filled with ricotta, danish feta and cooked streaky bacon.”

I’m not sure what I expected it to look like but probably not that.

That kind of looks like something the dog left behind.

I have to say though that it tasted quite exceptional.

When you cut into it the ricotta oozed out.

I didn’t know there was supposed to be bacon in there and couldn’t really taste it but it was really so rich and full of flavour that I couldn’t have eaten more than that small roll.

Hubby said his was near heaven. I got to taste a little morsel too. They were just flavoured perfectly. Moist, tender with a gorgeous charcoal taste.
In his words, “Just f’n delicious “

Though the portions seemed small I felt like I’d eaten a lot by the end.

If you’re a meat eater, it would be definitely worth it to save up a few pennies and head on down to Peel Street and have a meal at Kaffana. Don’t be like us though, do yourself a favour and order the meat platter!!!

Have you been to Kaffana?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

Hubby’s not hungry
A bar menu is read and re-read and re-read and re-read…
We celebrate the invention of the microwave

Diners today we were at the Hyde Park Taven on King William Rd.
I had always loved walking along Kind William Road – Especially on a warm Winters day when the sun is bestowing it’s comforting warmth.

What surprised me today, as hubby and I walked down a stretch of this road toward The Hyde Park Tavern, were the amount of empty shops where restaurants and cafe’s had once been. What is going on with this street?
Some of the buildings were occupied, but the businesses had changed since we were last here.
It was a little bit sad to see and I have to hope that it’s not unreasonable rents that are driving businesses away from this area.

It was about 2.30pm when we entered The Hyde Park Tavern. Hubby only wanted to come in for a drink but I hadn’t had lunch yet and was starving as usual.

Before I get to the food we ordered from the bar menu, I should tell you that hubby hardly ever eats soup. He doesn’t count it as a meal. The bar menu had a “soup of the day” and he decided to go with that because I guess he figured it didn’t really count as eating.
I would have had that too but soup of the day was bacon and lentil and I’m not a fan of bacon in soups so I went for the Shepherds Pie because there wasn’t too much else that appealed to me although in fairness, they did have the usual pub fare on there.

The staff were really friendly and I don’t know if it was the atmosphere, the sunny Winters day, or the laid back music that was playing that had me in a relaxed mood.
I just couldn’t help feeling a bit sad that there weren’t more people in this place while we were there.

The food didn’t take too long to come out.

I love the bread that came out with this soup. It was really warm and quite dense so it actually felt you were eating something. The soup was well flavoured.
It was probably a good thing to eat when you weren’t really hungry.
I was still in shock that hubby had ordered soup.

I wasn’t sure but I was expecting with the shepherds pie but it probably wasn’t this. It was really really really temperature hot. After the initial spoonful, I suspected it had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days and had been zapped in the microwave.
I thought Shepherds Pie was traditionally with lamb and Cottage Pie was with mince? I’m not sure, but this seemed to be beef mince to me. I would have also expected to see a bit of tomato in there but didn’t. That’s how I make mine. I think it would have stopped it from being so dry.
The mash on top was crusty and hard to break through. What was underneath was ok once it had cooled a bit. It wasn’t overladen with flavour but it wasn’t unpleasant.
A bit of salt helped it go down.

Those green veggies on the side were really nice! They were a little crunchy and dressed with a bit of olive oil. Nice! And the bread was warm and toasty too so that all helped.

All in all I didn’t hate it, it was an ok meal in a comfortable setting. I probably wouldn’t order it again though.

Once we were done hubby was suddenly hungry so after a little walk down King William Rd again, we had a sneaky (almost unspoken) stop at 50 six one and got one of these to share

As you can see we started before I took the photo… It was delicious!!

The Hyde Park Tavern is a decent pub to go along to and I wouldn’t mind trying something from their regular menu on another day.

Have you been to the Hyde Park Tavern?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

A Triple Cheese Burger also delivers twice cooked fries,
We learn it really is true, you get what you pay for and
Nautical themes, friendly staff and large serves make us forget the things we didn’t really like…

I have been here a few times and have never really had any complaints.
They promote a lot of local bands and have live music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
If you like going to see bands, this is a great place to kick back and see what’s happening in the Adelaide music scene.

We weren’t there for music today though. In fact we had very limited time and were just stopping in for a super quick lunch. I didn’t even order any wine!

It felt different this time, as I walked into the modern looking dining area. I’m not sure if they’ve been renovating over the last few years but I noticed a bit of a nautical theme with ropes hanging from the ceiling.
I liked it.
The dining room is big and airy and there were already lots of people sitting around having some lunch.

We were brought over some menus and it wasn’t a bad selection, hubby and I just didn’t really know what we wanted and felt under pressure knowing we were pushing time.

I decided to order the 200g Porterhouse with fries and salad, and hubby went for the Triple Cheese and Bacon Burger.
We saw some meals coming out and they looked pretty good!! Well presented and beautifully large serves. One of the meals coming out was the burger hubby had also ordered and I hoped his was going to be as big as the one I saw because it was pretty impressive!

We didn’t order any sides or starters, just went straight for a main.

Hubby’s burger looked pretty good when it came out I thought.

That patty was pretty huge!
You can’t really see it in this picture but there was quite a bit of bacon. To me, it didn’t seem like the bacon had been cooked enough though.

When I asked hubby what he thought of it he said it was ok, it just didn’t have any pizzaz. The bun was a brioche bun and the doughy part was almost a yellow colour. He said there wasn’t much flavour or spice in the burger and it didn’t have any interesting sauces on it either. Although he didn’t hate it, it was not memorable. At $19 this burger is reasonably priced so I guess you couldn’t have expected too much more.

My porterhouse looked ok when it came out too but I kept wishing I’d ordered something else.

The meat itself tasted ok. There was quite a bit of fat around it and it seemed pretty small but maybe that is what a 200g steak is supposed to look like.
The fries look way better in this picture than they did as I was eating them. They were clumped and cooked together. I’m sure they were cooked twice. They just seemed greased out. The ones on hubby’s plate were in the same condition.
The salad was ok and fairly fresh. I wasn’t a fan of the dressing but I still ate it all and that’s just down to personal preference.
My steak was $23.50 so I guess that’s a pretty reasonable price too.

We really didn’t hate it here so I hope my words aren’t going to be taken out of context. The restaurant is really comfortable to sit in and the staff are super friendly. The food came out quickly and there are a lot of people going in and out. It feels like it’s a “happy” place to be in. I think we were just too rushed and couldn’t enjoy the experience as we normally would.

I might just have to come back here on another night!

Have you been to the Holdfast Hotel?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

A bruschetta dish suffers an identify crisis while bacon plays hide and seek (and wins)
Pizza dough so light we barely thought about the calories and,
A restaurant so noisy and bustling, we were spared having to make polite conversation.

The Spoon You Fork Me team were in Cairns back in February and Villa Romana was a place we had walked past at least once a day.
We always intended to try it out but it just never worked out that way.

Four months later and we were back in Cairns and this time, we were going to stop in!
This place seems to be perpetually full of people and it was no different tonight with a triathlon on this weekend. Every restaurant in Cairns was exceptionally busy and so was Villa Romana.

When hubby and I walked by, there were no tables available and our host gave us the option of waiting at the bar but we decided to come back later.

Thirty minutes later and this three hundred plus seat restaurant was still completely full but we decided to wait and it wasn’t too long before we were shown to a table.
The menu was typically Italian although I did spot an interesting salad I wanted to try.

We ordered the Capricciosa Pizza, a Bruschetta and Insalata di Spinaci which was a salad of baby spinach, sliced apple, roasted walnuts, crispy bacon and zesty lemon dressing.

Surprisingly, although the restaurant was full, food was coming out quite quickly.

The table behind us ordered a calzone and it looked enormous as it was brought to the table. When it was cut into, it soon deflated however I could still see lots of cheese and filling in there.

Our food came and I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed when I saw my bruschetta.
It was on pizza dough.

The menu didn’t say it would be on pizza dough.
I was expecting it on toasted continental bread.
If I’d wanted a pizza, I would have ordered one!

The only difference between hubby’s pizza and my bruschetta were the shape and the toppings…

However, the dough was SOOOO fresh and light. They have wood ovens at Villa Romano and you can taste that wood oven taste in their pizza’s. Smoky, crisp and delicately light, topped with quality toppings.

This place knows how to do pizza!
My bruschetta was good. I got over the disappointment of how it was made. I really love basil pesto and that was prominent on this bruschetta however in places it was heavily salted and that was a bit disappointing too.

The salad was exceptional and definitely my favourite. Such a wonderful combination of foods!!
I had to read the menu again though as I was sure it had said crispy bacon but I couldn’t taste any. It was either so subtle I couldn’t taste it, or not in there at all.

I’m not a bacon lover though so it didn’t disappoint me that there was potentially no bacon. I really loved this salad. The spinach was fresh, the walnuts were crunchy and the apple brought a delicious sweetness. Everything worked so well together.

Hubby had no complaints about his pizza. I tried a bit and yes, his dough was definitely the same taste as mine.

All in all we had a nice time here. It was good to be in a busy, bustling place but it was hard if you wanted to actually have a conversation because it was just soooo noisy! I’d hate to be here on a first date.

Hubby and I ended up people watching and communicating the way most people who have been together many years do, with minimal conversation.
Next time we’re in Cairns I want to try their breakfast buffet as that has caught my eye once or twice in the past!